Tatiana Detlofson is an entertainment industry veteran with 25 years of experience in foreign cinema and international film festival promotion. 

She has represented Oscar and Golden Globe nominated films, including “My Life As A Zucchini,” “Embrace of the Serpent,” “Tangerines,” “The Broken Circle Breakdown,” “Kon-Tiki,” and “Bullhead.” She has represented Georgian filmmakers Zaza Urushadze, Rusudan Glurjidze and Ana Urushadze in the Oscar and Golden Globe race. For the last 20 years Tatiana has been the international representative for the Karlovy Vary IFF. She’s also worked with Locarno, Thessaloniki, Helsinki, Skipcity, Haugesund, and many other festivals. She worked 11 years with European Film Promotion (EFP), that promotes European cinema worldwide. She has run EFP Oscar screenings in Los Angeles, representing 25 Oscar entries in 2018. She has taught workshops about Academy Awards and Golden Globe campaigns at film festivals around the world, and she’s lectured international film PR at FAMU, the leading film school in Prague. Tatiana was born in the Czech Republic, she’s lived in Sweden and UK, and since 2005 lives in Venice Beach, California. She is fluent in English, Czech, Swedish, Russian and German.

Rusudan Glurjidze is a Georgian film director, screenwriter, and producer. She graduated in French Language and Literature from the Tbilisi State University and from 1990 to 1996 studied Film Directing and Screenwriting at Giorgi Shengelaia’s class at the Shota Rustaveli Theatre and Film University. Since 2007, she has been working as a producer and art director of Cinetech Film Production Company.  

Rusudan participating in different film festivals as a jury like Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, Minsk international film festival "Listopad", Eurasia International Film Festival, Fajr International Film Festival etc. 

Selected filmography - “House of Others”(2016),  "Oscar" (1996), "Nocturne" (1993)

Carmen Gray is a freelance journalist, critic and programmer who was born in New Zealand and now lives in Berlin. She has written on art, politics, music, and culture for publications including The New York Times, The Guardian, The Observer, Sight & Sound, The Calvert Journal and The Village Voice, and she is the former Film Editor of Dazed & Confused magazine in London. She is on the selection committee for the International Short Film Festival Winterthur in Switzerland. She is specialised in the culture, history and politics of Eastern Europe and the Caucasus.

Alexander Mindadze was born in Moscow in 1949 and is considered as one of the most acclaimed scriptwriters and directors in Russia.

More than 20 of his screenplays have been filmed since 1975. Early in his career he teamed up with acclaimed Russian director Vadim Abdrashitov, with whom he collaborated on eleven films over several decades. The film Plumbum was awarded with golden medal at the Venice IFF in 1987, and the Mindadze-Abdrashitov duo won the Silver Bear at the Berlin IFF in 1995, for the film A Play For a Passenger. In 2007, his feature film debut as director, Soar, was premiered at Venice IFF. This film received two awards, including the Film Critics’ Award for Best Debut Film in Russia. Second feature film written and directed by Aleksandr MindadzeInnocent Saturday was premiered at Berlin IFF in 2011. The third Mindadze’s feature film My Good Hans took part in Competition at Moscow IFF 2015 and received Nika - the main award from the Russian Academy of Cinema Arts for the Best Film and The White Elephant Award from the Russian Guild of Film Critic in five categories. Mindadze is the unique Russian scriptwriter who was awarded with prestigious Ennio Flaiano Prize and the Silver Pegasus from the Italian Academy of Culture for Literature's contribution to the cinema.

After completing a PhD on the relationship between German cinema and television, Martin Blaney moved to live in Germany in 1988. Since then, he has worked for, among others, the Berlinale, Filmfest München, and various initiatives of the European Union’s MEDIA Programme. In 1990, he became the correspondent for Germany, Austria and Switzerland at the British trade magazine Screen International and has also written for such publications as German Films Quarterly, Kino:German Film, Film und Medien in NRW – Das Magazin, Polish Film Industry Magazine and Blickpunkt: Film. In 2000, he left Screen International to become Head of Press & PR for the Berlin production company Road Movies, but returned to Screen in 2001. In addition to his journalistic activities, Dr. Blaney has been a jury member at numerous international film festivals – including Cinekid in 2017 and KiKiFe in Schwäbisch Gmünd in 2017 and 2018. Over He also serves as a moderator for various panels at the Berlinale as well as other events throughout Europe, including the Venice Film Festival, MIP TV in Cannes, Connecting Cottbus, Sofia Meetings, Nyon's Visions du Réel, Directors Across Borders (Yerevan), Transilvania International Film Festival, Moscow Business Square, Locarno's Open Doors, the Nordic Film Days, the Baltic Event (Tallinn), When East Meets West (Trieste), and the Odesa International Film Festival.

Oles Yanchuk was born in Kyiv, Ukraine on September 29, 1956. He is a graduate of the Kyiv Theatrical Institute and the Kyiv Photographical Institute. Oles Yanchuk's debut as Director came in 1989 when he finished working on the short film "U daleku Put'" ("Taking Off"). The film was praised and received the Golden Trident Award at the Los Angeles Ukrainian Film Festival in 1990. Soon after, Oles Yanchuk began working on the full length feature film "Holod '33" ("Famine '33") detailing the horrific years of famine genocide impose on Ukraine by Stalin and his henchmen in the 1930's. The film won the coveted Grand Prize at the National Film Festival held in Kyiv, Ukraine in 1991. Between 1992-93, the film was invited for screenings at the AFI International Film Festival (Los Angeles, Washington) and Film Forum in New York. By October 1995, Oles Yanchuk completed work on his second full-length feature, "Atentat" ("Assassination"), this time taking on the controversial topic of Ukraine and Ukrainians in the Second World War and its aftermath. Atentat continues to be shown throughout Ukraine, the United States and Canada. This film was also invited to a number of international film festivals, including the Gdansk International Film Festival (Poland), Karlovyj Var Film Festival (Czech Republic) and the Freedom Film Festival in Washington, International Film Festival in Los Angeles. 

All of Oles Yanchuk's films have been produced at the Dovzhenko Film Studios in Kyiv, Ukraine, where he has been working since 1984. Oles Yanchuk currently lives and works in Kyiv and runs his own production studio Oles-Film at the Dovzhenko Film Studios. 

Vakhtang Kuntsev-Gabashvili, assoc. Prof. at the University of Georgia, founder of the Studio “Akrobat”. His diploma work “The morning romance” at the first time was presented for Student Oscar in Los Angeles. This film has 3 main prizes and 11 awards on international film festivals. He was study in Munich film high school (Prof. Wim Wenders). Vakhtang twice has DAAD scholarship.
Since 1997 he is a technical coordinator of the Film fest Munich.
He is an author of 7 full length documentary’s. His Documentary film “Life is Be” in 2016 has won a main prize “Best Georgian Documentary” (“Tbilisi International Film Festival “Prometheus”).
His last film “Transparent world” has won 6 Grand-Prix and it was the opening film of the 3 International Film festivals. 

From 2003-2012 – he was a Teacher at five Georgian University’s, specialization “cinema sound and music”. Since 2012 – PhD, Doctor of Arts. 

Polish film expert. A graduate of the Jagiellonian University, he studied at the Institute of Art of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw. Joint founder and former head of the Jewish Culture Festival, Graffiti Film Centre and “Film Polski” Foundation. Former Deputy Mayor of the City of Krakow, Director of the Polish State Television Film Agency, General Secretary of the Polish Filmmakers Association. Member of the Polish and European Film Academies. Since 2000, Director of the Krakow Film Festival. Founder and president of Krakow Film Foundation, which is the producer of Krakow Film Festival and promoter of Polish documentaries and shorts abroad. Lecturer at the Krakow Academy. Member of numerous film festivals’ juries.

Karen is program director of Golden Apricot International Film Festival. He has been working as Film critic, cultural journalist, columnist and radio host. The author of radio programs on arts and culture, the member of The International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI).

Ghasideh Golmakani was born in Tehran (Iran), into a family of journalist and artists. At age 18, she moved to Paris to follow her studies in “Art history” and “Cultural studies”. Her PHD study's subject at Sorbonne University is focused on “The Influence of Masters on New Generation of Iranian Filmmakers”. 

Moved back in Iran, she started to make movies. Self-taught, Ghasideh had made several documentaries and making-of for several Iranian masters such Reza Mirkarimi. Besides her movie making, she is writing analytical articles for divers Iranian magazines such as “Film Magazine”. Author of biographical book about Ali Abbassi (the most important producer of New Wave of before Iranian revolution), she is also program advisor and festival curator.

In her fiction films, Ghasideh mainly treats taboos in the deeply traditional Iran; thematic such as “child abuse”, “street harassment” and generally daily violence on women. Among her fiction shorts we can name “Limbo”, “Online Shopping” and “Horn”.

Paul Thiltges Distributions is a Luxembourg based film production and world sales company founded in 1993 by Paul Thiltges and jointly run with Adrien Chef. Collaborating with a large range of international partners, the six-headed team has built up a considerable network, allowing it to initiate projects or participate in ventures on a worldwide scale as producer, co-producer or sales agent.  

The company’s film catalogue reflects the diversity of its professional network by including engaged documentaries and fiction such as the work of Michael Glawogger, Hicham Lasri or Ari Folman, while simultaneously working on rather entertaining fiction as with Frederic Jardin or Sylvie Testud. In the meantime PTD also commits to animated fiction aimed to children, co-producing stories such as Kirikou & the Sorceress by Michel Ocelot or The Blue Arrow and A Greyhound of a Girl  by Enzo D’Alò. 

These projects have, among others, earned Paul Thiltges Distributions numerous nominations and awards at prestigious film festivals around the world like Locarno, Cannes, San Francisco or Annecy, consolidating its solid reputation in the international film industry. 

David M. Lorenz is a German filmmaker currently living in Tehran. He finished film studies in Vienna and Berlin with honours in 2013.  He graduated with a thesis on the dramaturgy of fictional short films.

The short films, written and directed by him - fictional and documentary - have been shown at more than 600 festivals, in over 75 countries worldwide. Among his films mention should be made of  "In the Nick of Time", "We Could Have, We Should Have, We 'Didn't…", "Sorry to Interrupt" and "#selfie" which have won numerous prestigious awards worldwide.

He is also a part of the Berlin-based film distribution agency aug&ohr medien since it's first days. Their portfolio includes over 1500 high-quality short films.

Otar Shamatava was born on August 6, 1950 in Tbilisi. During 1967-1972 he studied at Tbilisi Art Academy, Faculty of Architecture, 1985-1980 – at Shota Rustaveli Theater Institute. In 1973-1981 years he worked as an architect at Sakkalakproject, and from 1981 as a director of the Georgian Film Studio. In 1999-2000 he was the author and director of the popular TV program "Before bedtime", during 2001-2002 Director of the National Center for Cinematography. Since 2002 he is the general producer of Imedi TV. Since 2004 - Member of the International TV Academy "Emy".

Selected filmography: "Revenge" (1982), "Vamekhi Fashion" (1987), "Turandot" (1989), "Attraction", "Fiesta" 1996), "Dear M." (2000), Ursus (2018).

Nino Mkheidze is Film critic, Doctor of Fine Arts, Associate Professor. From 1993 to 2010 she was engaged in scientific and pedagogical activities at the University of Theater and Cinema. In 2007-2010 she was a Chairman of the Representative Council of the University.

From 2010 to present, Nino Mkheidze is a research associate professor at the Art Research Institute of Ilia State University, Head of the Film Studies Program. She worked as an invited teacher during 2016-2018 at New Caucasus Film School. In 2016-2018 – she was a jury member and one of the founders (together with Georgian Film Center) of competition project  “Write in Georgian”. 

Nino Mkheidze is the author of the following textbooks - "Georgian Film Directors" - Part I - II, Shota Rustaveli Theater and Film University Press, 2006-2007; "The 12 Best Georgian Movies of All Time (in Georgian-English)", 2012 (Co-author and editor); Book-Album – “DoP Giorgi Beridze, 2018” (Co-author).

Lela Ochiauri – Film critic, PHD in Arts, full-time professor of Shota Rustaveli Theatre and Film Georgian State University, Arts Editor of “Rezonansi” Newspaper.

Chief Editor of “Galaktioni” Newspaper. In 1974 graduated from Tbilisi State Art Academy. In 1981-1982 made internship in Moscow Film History and Theory Institute.

Lela Ochiauri is a successful author and co-author of various books -   The Sculpture and Art of Gogi Ochiauri, Nova Sciaence Publishers, Inc. New York, 2011;  The  articles and publications about modern culture.

She has been awarded with number of professional prizes, amongst them are: Georgian Film Union Award “Nostalgia” for outstanding work in 1986, “Kavkasioni” Newspaper Best Publication Prize for her work - “Mama Roma” (1991), Adjarian Regional Theatrical Union Prize (2007) etc.  

Film critic and journalist. At various times she worked as a journalist and web editor for following publications/media: Hot Chocolate, Cinema - Hot Chocolate, National Geographic Georgia; She was executive editor and editor of the cultural section of the magazine "Tabula"; Coordinates a media competition - Adam - Media Prize for Cultural Diversity in Eastern Europe. She teaches film history at Tbilisi State Academy of Fine Arts.

Salome is currently  lecturer at GIPA and freelance publisher for INDIGO and Voyager.

Since 2007 she is a member of FIPRESCI (International Association of Film Critics). She was a member of the FIPRESCI Jury at the International Film Festivals in Berlin, Cottbus, Kerala, Dakar, Ankara, Cairo, Transylvania, Almaty, Istanbul, Setubal and Athens.